FILE - Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba watches a debate at the Mississippi Capitol on Feb. 7, 2023, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
- The trial for indicted officials Mayor Lumumba, Councilman Banks and DA Owens now set for July 2026.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan scheduled the trial for Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks to start July 13, 2026, with status conferences on October 1, 2025, and April 1, 2026.
The Jackson Three – Lumumba, Owens, and Banks – were indicted in October 2024 for allegedly accepting bribes to bring a convention center hotel to downtown Jackson. All deny the allegations and have plead not guilty to the federal bribery charges.
READ MORE: Owens, Lumumba and Banks plead ‘not guilty,’ face combined 175 years in prison
Lumumba, who is seeking re-election and is in a Democratic Primary runoff later this month, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements
Banks was indicted and charged with conspiracy and federal bribery.
Owens was indicted on charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of an interstate facility in aid of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. He faces eight additional charges stemming from allegedly accepting a bribe to arrange multiple meetings between out-of-state developers, who were FBI agents, and Jackson’s leadership.
Lumumba and Banks are also facing several counts of taking bribes in efforts to aid in the hotel development.
In the April 11, seven-page memo, Judge Jordan wrote that federal prosecutors must produce all “in scope” cell phone data and transcripts of the audio and video recordings to the defense no later than April 7, 2025, and May 6, 2025, respectively.
Any of the Jackson Three that chooses to plead guilty must do so by May 29, 2026.
Court documents show the government already produced approximately 44,000 pages of documents, many of them finance records and hundreds of hours of recordings. Additionally, transcripts, grand jury testimony and more have been turned over.
“The parties anticipated a trial lasting at least a month, but they could not agree on three dates. The government sought a trial date no later than January 2026, and the defendants sought a trial as late as July 2026. Then, after receiving additional discovery, counsel for Defendant Aaron B. Banks sought leave to submit new trial dates that would push the date back to fall 2026,” Jordan wrote.
Read more about this ongoing Jackson bribery case here.
